The Pool of Money
Add up the assets that could be drawn for long-term care, then compare that pool against your state's median cost of care — grown by inflation, while your pool compounds at an assumed return.
1. Assets in the pool
Enter today's values. Leave unused lines at 0. Figures are totaled — this model does not haircut real estate for selling costs or illiquidity.
2. Where and when care starts
3. How the pool is used
Pool of money vs. inflated cost of care
| Year | Status | Annual cost | Drawn from pool | Pool remaining | Shortfall |
|---|
Educational hypothetical only — not financial, legal, or insurance advice. State figures are rounded annual medians already published on our Cost of Care by State page, sourced from the CareScout / Genworth Cost of Care Survey 20251 and A Place for Mom 2025 move-in data2. “Home care (personal care aide)” reflects a typical part-time weekly schedule, not 24/7 live-in care. Actual costs, liquidity, taxes, Medicaid look-back, and investment returns will differ.
How this hypothetical works
A plain-language model: add up assets that could pay for care, let that pool grow at an assumed return, and spend against state median costs that rise with inflation.
The idea
Families often think of long-term care as a distant facility bill. This tool treats care as a draw against a single “pool of money” — cash, investments, home equity, metals, annuity and life-insurance cash values, and other assets a household is willing to count.
You choose the state (costs differ sharply), the setting, when care is assumed to start, how many years to model, a cost-inflation rate, and an investment return on whatever remains in the pool.
Cost sources
State figures come from the same dataset behind our Cost of Care by State page, annualized from published cost surveys:
- Assisted living uses the community monthly median × 12 (A Place for Mom 2025 move-in data).
- Nursing facility uses the semi-private annual median (CareScout 2025).
- Home care (personal) uses the published annual median for a personal-care home aide (CareScout 2025), a typical part-time weekly schedule rather than 24/7 live-in care.
The year-by-year math
- Start with today's pool.
- Each year, the remaining pool is grown by the R.O.I. you entered.
- Until the start year you chose, no care is deducted (accumulation only).
- Once care starts, that year's cost equals today's state median grown by CPI for each year from now.
- The model spends the lesser of (pool, that year's cost). Any unpaid amount is a shortfall.
Default inflation is 4% — a planning midpoint between recent survey year-over-year changes and longer-run long-term-care cost growth. Default R.O.I. is 5%. Change both; they drive the chart.
What this does not do
- It does not apply taxes, surrender charges, or realtor fees.
- It does not model Medicaid spend-down, look-back, or partnership policies.
- It does not split “countable” vs. exempt assets.
- It is not an illustration of any insurance or investment product.
For education and discussion only. Confirm current local rates with providers. A licensed advisor should review any actual plan.
- CareScout (formerly Genworth), Cost of Care Survey 2025. carescout.com/cost-of-care
- A Place for Mom, 2025 senior living move-in cost data. aplaceformom.com/senior-living-data/costs
A policy sized to close the gap this model shows you.
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